RWBY - Grimm Tidings
by KarlAurin
Summary: A story featuring original characters; set alongside the main RWBY series and adapted from my RPG Group's campaign. Follow the adventures of Team MAZS (Mars), led by Magnus Aurin and LILC (Lilac), led by Luna Starr, as they adjust to life at Beacon Academy and the events that shape their time there...
1. The Trial (Magnus Aurin - Gold Trailer)

Author's Note : Hi all, and welcome to the first chapter of which I hope will be a recurring series. This is an intro story I wrote for my RPG group for my character in our RWBY game, Magnus Aurin. I got introduced to RWBY via ScrewAttack's Death Battle with Yang vs Tifa and started watching the show back at the beginning of December, so if there are any details I've not got quite right or need more work, please let me know. As I've said, I'm aiming to possibly make this a continuing story with adaptations of how the sessions go (which are all set concurrently to the series so game-wise we've recently got to around the end of Vol. 1) so any critique or comments you have about the story are more than welcome. I've also tried to incorporate music where I can to try and give it a little bit more of the feel of the show with battle scenes etc. Enjoy!

Principal's Office -

There was a loud knock at the door, the sound echoing through the dimly lit room.

"Come in." the voice said, not even looking away from the monitor that was active on his desk. As he did so, the massive doors creaked open and a figure began to walk from the door, down the hallway to the desk at the other end, his footsteps echoing as his heels connected with the marble floors. The sound continued for a while before the man finally reached the desk.

"You wanted to see me, Principal?" the man asked.

"Yes." the shadowy figure replied, leaning back in his large chair. "Is he ready?"

"Aurin, sir?" he asked, continuing once the Principal nodded in confirmation. "As ready as he'll ever be, sir. He's one of my best students."

"That may be so.." the principal stated, matter-of-factly. "But is he *really* good enough for Beacon? You know this school has referred people there in the past, and few of them have lived up to the praise we have given in their transcripts. I was surprised that Ozpin even bothered to return my call this time around...we don't exactly have the sway with him that I've heard *Signal's* had recently." he continued, a sense of envy slipping out at the mention of Patch's combat academy.

"Definitely." the man said, his tone suggesting he was almost certain. "I've been here for many years and I've never seen anyone show the kind of aptitude he has so far. If anyone deserves to be there, it's him."

"Very well..." the Principal said. "You've had your say on this...now it's down to him. Actions speak louder than words, after all."

With that, he pressed a button, activating the intercom system. "Magnus Aurin, please report to the Training Arena."

\- Lockers -

"I repeat, Magnus Aurin, please report to the Training Arena."

The corridors had fallen silent for the announcement, before suddenly exploding into a cacophony of chatter among the students as they began to debate the various reasons for the announcement. Was it a punishment...or something else? Everyone seemed to be excited and interested about the news...everyone but one person.

"Did you hear that Magnus? They want you in the training arena.." an voice quickly blurted out from behind Magnus's locker door. He sighed and closed it, looking at the girl who the voice belonged to with a completely passive expression on his face. Her blue eyes, which complemented the green-blue tint to her hair, were wide with excitement.

"I heard, Cyanne." he said, picking out a large cylindrical hilt from his locker, along with a small bandolier which he put on, the black leather strap standing out against the purple velvet that ran across the upper section of his jacket before merging into the black of the lower half. "I'm sure it's just another training session. This is a combat school after all."

He adjusted his wool-lined collar, bringing it down across his jacket front, before adjusting the band that tied his golden hair back into a small ponytail.

"Aren't you the least bit curious though, Mag?" she asked, ignoring the fact that she knew he hated being called that.

He shrugged as he closed the locker and turned to walk towards the arena as she followed. "It's training. If anything more comes along with it, I'm sure they'll inform me."

"Man, you never get excited about anything." Cyanne sulked. "You're no fun at all."

"And yet you still choose to associate with me." Magnus smirked. "I must be doing something right."

Cyanne smiled back. "I guess." she replied, before stopping with a yelp.

"Eep!" she exclaimed. "I almost forgot I've got a meeting with Miss Rojo today..I'd better not be late or I'll end up with another monster research assignment for sure!". She gave Magnus a friendly pat on the back before bolting down the corridor in the opposite direction, a cloud of dust being kicked up in her wake.

"SEEYOULATERGOODLUCKBYYYYyyeeee!..." the voice trailed off as she went out of earshot.

Magnus snorted slightly in amusement. Cyanne had been a good friend these last couple years, one of only a few he had at the school. She was right about one thing however...this was somewhat peculiar. Magnus normally knew well in advance when he was going to have additional after-school training...but not this time. Maybe there was something more to this than first met the eye.

"Well...no point concerning yourself with it now Magnus." he said to himself, gripping the hilt tighter in his hand as he looked at the door to the training arena before him, before adjusting the gold bracers that adorned the forearms of his jacket.

"...Here we go."

The principal and teacher looked on as the monitor displayed the interior of the training arena, and the sight of Magnus entering the arena from the doorway.

"He looks confident." the Principal said, looking back to the teacher, who nodded in reply. "Let's see how this plays out."

With that, the Principal pressed three buttons on a panel on his desk, each of which appeared to correspond to a section of the floor in the arena. Large plumes of smoke spewed out from these sections, beginning to obscure the view of the camera, and the Principal could see that Magnus had raised one of his arms in an attempt to shield himself from the smoke.

Magnus looked at the columns of smoke, wondering what was going on. However, almost as soon as the smoke had begun, it stopped and had begun to clear. As Magnus peered into the dissipating smoke, he saw the shadows of four figures appear. As the smoke continued to recede he saw that each of the four figures was masked, and armed with a blade.

Before he could question this further however, a voice came over the intercom.

"Mister Aurin." the Principal began. "Thank you for joining us. I have heard from your teachers of your good performance in your classes and have decided to put these assessments to the test."

Magnus listened to every word, his hand gripping the hilt tighter as he readied himself mentally.

"As you are well aware, this school has always rewarded the student with the highest overall scores for the final year of study with a referral to Beacon Academy. Each of the people that stands before you now has previously earned that honour. Not all of them were successful in their application, but some of them are giving up some of their valuable free time between years to assist us in this exercise."

Magnus looked at the four figures. He could not see their faces due to the Kabuki masks that they wore, but he could see that all of them appeared to be older than he was. The tallest of them appeared to be well over 6 feet tall, and wielded what looked to be a longsword which appeared to fork off at the point of the blade, with a barrel built into the centre of it. A quick glance at the others showed that each of them also carried bladed weapons...the one to the left wielding a daisho, another longsword in the hands of the rightmost student, and the final student , a female, stood alongside the larger one, a ko-naginata in her hands.

"Your task in this exercise, Mister Aurin...is to defeat all four of these students." the Principal continued. "This battle will be contested under standard training conditions, so all of you will be monitored. When a combatant's aura is depleted, they will be eliminated from the exercise. When one side has been completely eliminated, the exercise will end. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Magnus stated calmly. "I am ready to begin."

The Principal raised an eyebrow "Eager one, isn't he?" he said to the teacher before reactivating the intercom. "Very well...BEGIN!"

He pressed a button and a buzzer sounded, signifying the start of the exercise. Magnus paused for a moment, surveying the four in front of him, when one of them began to speak.

"Pah!" the rightmost student spat, mockingly. "*YOU* are the one they're making all the fuss about? Don't make me laugh."

"I'm not here to make you laugh." Magnus retorted, readying the hilt in his hand. "I intend to eliminate you."

"Really?!" the student laughed again. "Watch out guys, we've got a badass over here. What do you intend to do, shine that little torch in my eyes and hope I don't hit you?"

Before Magnus could respond, the student let out a roar and charged him down, longsword ready to strike. Magnus watched as time began to slow down...something he had gotten used to over the years as he had started to grasp the nature of his semblance. He could see every miniscule movement that the student was making as the thought processes worked their way from his brain to his muscles, moving them to make a strike at his intended target.

He was going to strike at his left side. Magnus rolled right, extending out his right arm and pressing a button on the hilt he carried, as it extended out into a shock blade of sorts, electrical energy crackling around the tip of the weapon.

"This is no torch." Magnus stated as he swept the weapon at the student's legs, sweeping him off his feet from behind in one quick motion as he passed, the other students looking on stunned at how easily he had both avoided their ally's attack and countered it in one swift motion.

"You little..." the student muttered as he rolled back to his feet and attempted to deliver another downward swing which was parried by Magnus, followed by two more that met the same fate. A fourth strike was attempted, which Magnus swept into a full circle with his weapon before delivering a swift kick to the chest, knocking the student back onto his backside with a thud.

Magnus adjusted his stance as he awaited the student's next move, the hum and crackling of the electrical pulses in his weapon filling the air around him.

The student looked around to his three allies. "Are any of you going to step in here or what?" he asked, exasperated that none of them had come to his aid during the initial exchange. The student armed with the daisho went to take a step forward, but the larger one placed his longsword in his path, shaking his head. He then motioned to the female student to go and assist.

The female student ran over to her downed ally, helping him up while keeping her ko-naginata pointed firmly at Magnus to prevent him from attacking . Magnus smiled slightly as he allowed them to get back to their feet. He looked up briefly at the screen in the training arena. His initial attacks had done some damage to his first attacker, but not enough to take him out of the equation yet. Now he was dealing with a ko-naginata as well he needed to pick up the pace, and fast.

"Looks like the situation is getting a little...heated." Magnus stated.

"I'll show you heated, you snot-nosed brat!" the first attacker yelled as he rushed in again. Once again Magnus's semblance kicked in and he was able to successfully dodge his strike, planting his weapon into the ground and flipping back, delivering a kick to the jaw which staggered him before slamming his weapon firmly into the right side of him. The student winced in pain as the shock travelled through his body, but Magnus had little time to do anything before he saw the ko-naginata being jabbed in by the other student, which he had only just managed to evade by leaping backwards.

"Yes...definitely heated." he replied as he stepped back a bit, opening one of the pouches on his bandolier and producing a small orange vial. "I think it's time I replied in kind."

With that, he inserted the vial into the hilt of the weapon, and seconds later, there was a slight click.

"What was that supposed to do?" the student with the ko-naginata laughed.

"Guess he needed to change the batteries in his little fly swatter." the other retorted, although more out of bravado and trying to pretend he hadn't been hurt more than anything.

Magnus smirked as he heard the comments of the two students. "I already told you...this is no torch, and it's certainly not a fly swatter." he began, as he held the weapon out in front of him horizontally, the shock blade facing to the left of him. With the flick of a switch under his right hand, a second blade extended out from the handle, electrical energy crackling along it much like its partner.

"This is Crozius Aurelia..." he said, as he span the weapon in a full circle before pressing a third button on the hilt. In an instant, both blades ignited in a flash of orange flame as the dust crystal ignited, the sound of the roaring flame mixing with the still crackling electricity coursing through the weapon as he readied it. "...and this is your end."

The Principal raised an eyebrow as he saw the staff ignite, and the stunned look on the face of the two students who faced it. "Well..." he looked over to the teacher, who had a smile on his face.

"Prepare to be astounded, sir." the teacher replied.

( **Author Note** : This is where the music cues in. As I can't link to it I recommend "Nervous Testpilot Feat. WLF - Total Focus (Frozen Synapse Focus - WLF 2013 remix)" on Youtube, as this was what I had playing as I wrote this part. Credit to nervous_testpilot for the music!)

Magnus began with a butterfly spin, holding the now fully deployed Crozius Aurelia in front of him to block the opponents blows, before beginning a series of staff strikes to both opponents. Keeping his eyes firmly locked into the battle, he blocked shot after shot from the now panicked opponents, using the openings that he was finding to deliver strikes of his own. The ko-naginata attempted to stab forward again and Magnus flipped backwards, bringing Crozius Aurelia in an upward arc, causing the student to lose balance slightly as the weapon was forced upwards with it. This gave him the opportunity to deliver a legsweep, which sent her sprawling to the ground.

Magnus began with a butterfly spin, holding the now fully deployed Crozius Aurelia in front of him to block the opponents blows, before beginning a series of staff strikes to both opponents. Keeping his eyes firmly locked into the battle, he blocked shot after shot from the now panicked opponents, using the openings that he was finding to deliver strikes of his own. The ko-naginata attempted to stab forward again and Magnus flipped backwards, bringing Crozius Aurelia in an upward arc, causing the student to lose balance slightly as the weapon was forced upwards with it. This gave him the opportunity to deliver a legsweep, which sent her sprawling to the ground.

Magnus followed through on the legsweep, returning to his feet as he span Crozius Aurelia in his hands to parry two strikes that the other student made. A third strike came in , a straight stab that he span himself around, before delivering his own strike to the side. The pain flashed across the student's face as the burning, electrified shock blade made contact with his body. The strike seemed to incapacitate him, which was all of the opening that Magnus needed to deliver another two quick strikes to each of his sides, sending the student to the floor, his aura depleted. A buzzer sounded to indicate his elimination from the battle.

"One down..." Magnus thought, as he turned to face the remaining aggressors, including the girl who was just getting back to her feet. "Three to go."

The larger student nodded to the student armed with the daisho, and he readied his swords and charged straight into the combat, hoping to give his ally the distraction she would need to make her attack. Magnus span back out of the way of the charging students and attempted to ready himself for the next assault.

The girl with the ko-naginata came forward again, jabbing forward to try and destabilise Magnus. On the third attempt, Magnus brought Crozius Aurelia down on the ko-naginata, pushing it down towards the ground. Using his semblance, at the exact moment the blade hit the ground, Magnus stepped onto the tsuba of the ko-naginata and took two quick steps up the staff before jumping off, now safely past the blade and delivered a hard shot to the ribs with Crozius Aurelia causing her to crumple to the ground. A moment later, a second buzzer sounded.

"Make that two." he noted to himself, turning to give his full attention to the dual-wielding student. The student began a flurry of motion with their blades, matching his attacks with Crozius Aurelia strike for strike. He spun away, trying to give himself some room to try and find an opening in his opponent's offense. As he studied briefly, he saw that the attacker's movements were indicating a lot of upper body strikes. If he was going to find an opening, he'd have to go low.

With that, he swept out with Crozius Aurelia, hoping to make contact with his legs. The student jumped to avoid it, but had momentarily dropped his swords down to his sides in order to make the leap. Continuing the motion into a second spin, he raised his staff to head level and delivering a shot to the side of his opponent's head, stunning him enough for Magnus to follow up with a crushing strike to the shoulder which caused him to go down hard. A third buzzer sounded, and as Magnus looked up at the scoreboard, he saw that the third foe had fallen. Only one man remained on the other team.

"Looks like it's just me and you now, big man." Magnus called across to the largest student, who had not moved much the entire time. "How about we settle this one-on-one?"

"Fine by me." the final opponent smiled, as he readied his sword. Lightning crackled between the two prongs at the tip of the blade, and Magnus could see what looked to be a dust chamber at the hilt of the sword.

"A big man AND a dust user...this should be a challenge." he said to himself as he evaluated his options for attack. When he felt ready, he spun Crozius Aurelia in his hands again, before holding it to one side, beckoning the big man forward with his other hand.

"Oh you want me, huh?!" the large opponent yelled as he began to charge forward like a stampeding animal. "You're gonna get all you can handle,you little punk!"

Magnus watched as the big man charged him down, the electricity crackling through his sword much like it was on Crozius Aurelia. He waited a little longer as he mentally made his plan of attack. As he came closer, Magnus struck. Just as the big man was about to take the first swing with his sword, Magnus darted around him, jabbing at his legs with the ends of Crozius Aurelia.

The big man howled in pain, as the first couple of strikes went in, attempting to turn and swing at Magnus. However, whenever he attempted to strike out with his sword he was unsuccessful, as Magnus was already behind him again, continuing to jab at his legs with Crozius Aurelia. Every time he tried to counterattack, Magnus would use his lighter frame and his quickness to get behind him, again attacking the large student's legs in an attempt to prevent him from making any kind of meaningful attempt to hit him. After several passes the big man fell to his knees, clearly in pain from Magnus's constant assault. Seeing this Magnus began a run of his own before planting Crozius Aurelia into the ground, using the momentum to propel himself forward to deliver a thunderous flying knee strike to the student's temple. The top of the golden kickpad that covered Magnus's boots pressed into the student's cheek as he made impact, knocking the big man unconscious.

The final buzzer sounded. Magnus was victorious. He picked himself back up to his feet, pressing the buttons on his weapon to snuff out the flames and then retract both ends of Crozius Aurelia back into the hilt.

With that, the doors opened at the far end of the arena and a man in a suit stepped out applauding. It was the Principal.

"Well done, Mister Aurin..well done!" he said, still clapping. "This is simply extraordinary! I will admit I had my doubts but my boy, you have put them all to rest."

"Thank you, sir." Magnus said, as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "The exercise is over?"

"Yes, my boy.." he continued "..but not only that, but your time here is at an end too! You have passed your final training exercise."

Magnus looked surprised. "Really?" he asked. "That was it?"

"Of course! If you can defeat four of our best and brightest from this school's illustrious history with not so much as a smidgen of help from outside forces, then I say you are more than deserving of this..." the Principal produced a scroll that appeared to have a document on the display.

"What's this?" Magnus asked, having an idea of what it could be but not wanting to believe it.

"Why, my boy..." the Principal began, chuckling. "It's a copy of our referral and your transcripts! You're going to need to give these to the staff on the transport if you're going to go to Beacon, after all."

"B...Beacon?!" Magnus stammered slightly, taken aback by the mention of the Academy. "I'm going there now?!"

"No, of course not now..." the Principal chuckled again. "That would just be sillly. The transport leaves in three days' time at 0900. All of the information you'll need for the transport crew is on the first page of your documents there."

Magnus stood there in silence for a moment to let it all sink in. He was finally getting the chance to go to Beacon and train to become a Huntsman..something he had wanted to do for as long as he could remember, and now he was getting his chance. What greater way was there to test your skills defending the people from creatures such as the Grimm?

"Thank you, sir..." Magnus began. "For everything. I promise I won't let you down."

The Principal smiled and patted Magnus on the back "I'm sure you won't, my boy. After a display like that, I have every confidence that you'll do well in your studies. Now, go and take it easy until the big day...you'll need to get ready, after all."

"Of course...thank you again, sir." he said, as he adjusted his jacket and bandolier making sure all of the pouches were securely fastened before turning to leave.

Even though he had succeeded in getting referred to Beacon, there would be a lot to do in the next three days. He'd need to get everything packed up that he needed, tie up any loose ends that he needed to...and also say a couple of goodbyes. First to his mother, who he knew wouldn't be completely happy with it...all things considered...but would at least be supportive. Once he had done that, then that left Cyanne. He wondered how she might take it, as she had been one of the few people at school that he had considered a friend, and someone that was always there wherever he went. He wondered how different it would be not having her around, and whether or not he'd be able to make any friends like her once he settled in at Beacon.

One thing was for sure though...things were certainly going to get interesting in the next few days.


	2. The Journey

Chapter Two : The Journey -

\- Aurin Residence, Vale -

Magnus stepped through the front door, setting his bag down on a chair in the hallway. He paused for a moment, looking at himself in the mirror as he thought about what had just happened. In the space of a day, he had gone from being just another student at his combat school to becoming the newest referral to Beacon Academy. After the adrenaline from the combat trial and his initial shock at what the Principal had told had subsided, it had dawned on him what this actually meant. He was about to take a step out into the wider world for the first time in many years, and this both excited and worried him; it undoubtedly would worry his mother.

"Mom, I'm home!" Magnus called as he pulled himself out of his contemplative state. He needed to tell her the news as soon, and as gently as possible.

"I'll be right there!" a voice replied, from what seemed like the other side of the house. "I'm just finishing up in the garden!"

Magnus smiled as he heard the response. For as long as he could remember, his mother had loved working in the garden of their home. Part of him had come to think that she used it as a way to keep in touch with nature, especially after she had been forced to give up so much for him when they moved to Vale.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out the Scroll that the Principal had given him before stepping into the spacious living room area of the house. The room was immaculately kept, with a very bright and colourful decor; white walls, brightly coloured upholstery and rugs, and a large glass coffee table in the centre of the room which glistened as the light shone through the window, illuminating the entire room with warm, golden sunlight.

Magnus slumped back onto the sofa with a sigh, just as his mother Melynnie, stepped into the room. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail as she tended to do when she was working in the garden, and she was wearing a black workshirt and jeans along with a yellow gardening apron. She set the hand trowel on the table as she looked over to Magnus.

"You're back late. " she began, looking at him curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"No mom, nothing's wrong." Magnus replied, shaking his head and smiling slightly. "I was just asked to see the Principal after school, that's all."

"That's all?!" his mother exclaimed, as she walked over to him briskly and sat alongside him. "Nothing's wrong, yet the Principal wanted to see you?"

Magnus brushed some loose hair back behind his ear, sighing as he thought of the best way to explain. "Yes." he began. "The Principal wanted to put me through another combat training exercise after class today...he wanted to see how I handled four opponents at once. In my opinion, he should have brought more."

"Now, now Magnus...remember what I told you about modesty." she commented, smirking slightly. "Now, why did he want to see you beat four opponents?"

Magnus looked up at his mother, before producing the scroll from his pocket. "For this." he said, offering the scroll to her to look at.

She took the scroll, opened it up and the expression immediately changed on her face, the curiosity changed now to a mix of pride and concern. "So...they think you're ready for Beacon."

"Apparently so." Magnus acknowledged, looking back at her expression. "I thought you might have that reaction too...you're worried about HIM."

"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied. "I brought you back to Vale to be away from him. With you being admitted to Beacon...in a Vytal Festival year, no less.."

She stopped for a moment, getting up from the sofa and walking towards the large window that looked back out into the garden. "...you're going to be right in his sights."

"Yeah...I remember hearing that you both met at the Vytal Festival." Magnus paused, as he too walked towards the window. "I know he's very likely to be there with the Atlesian delegation when the time comes..but that's months away yet, and it's not going to change anything. I may have been young when you brought me with you to Vale but I stayed, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yes..." she smiled, and turned to face her son. "Yes, you did Magnus..."

"You're my mother..and you've always supported me, even when you weren't sure that I was doing the right thing. Beacon is a bit of a big step out from the shadows you've tried to protect me in, I know that...but it's a step I'm ready to take. The Principal even told me himself that there was nothing more I could learn from them now. I can finally fulfil my dream and become a Huntsman worthy of carrying on the Aurin name..." he paused, looking back up at his mother. " ...a name that HE couldn't live up to on his best day." A look of determination came across Magnus's face, his body language changing to reflect it. "He may be my father, but he has no power over me...if he comes, he'll just have to leave disappointed."

Melynnie smiled and hugged her son. "Oh Magnus..." she said, the pride showing in her voice. "You've grown to be a fine young man, and I'm sure you're going to do well at Beacon. Now...how long do you have before you have to leave?"

"According to the scroll, the transport leaves for the Academy in three days."

She smiled. "Well, you best get started on the preparations. I'll call you for dinner when it's ready."

"Alright..." Magnus said as he headed towards the stairs. "Oh and Mom? Thanks again for understanding."

She smiled to him again, but as he turned and headed upstairs, her expression changed to one of concern again. As determined as Magnus was, she knew Augustus would be just as persistent to convince Magnus to come around to his way of thinking. She thought back to the letter she'd got from James recently about Augustus, informing her of some troubling reports he'd received regarding his actions as of late. Now that she knew Magnus was going to Beacon, she thought about writing back to him about the possibility of recommending Augustus be reassigned from the Festival delegation this year, before dismissing the thought. Augustus' cadets had enjoyed success in almost every festival he had attended...family friend or not, there was no way on Remnant that James Ironwood would reassign one of his best performing officers from his duties with that kind of record.

"No.." she thought, as she looked towards a panelled door under the stairwell. "This might have to be handled a little differently."

\- Three Days Later, Vale -

Magnus walked down the street carrying a suitcase in one hand, and what resembled a military kitbag slung across his right shoulder. He had a little while yet before he needed to be at the transport pad, and he was running short on some of his Dust, so he had decided to call in to his usual store to stock up for the trip. The last couple of days had gone fairly smoothly, and he had managed to work out exactly which of his possessions were absolutely vital and stuffed all of it into the two bags he carried now. He had even managed to say his goodbyes to everyone that he would be leaving behind when he went to Beacon...everyone that was, apart from Cyanne.

He had been hoping to speak with her before he left, even going to all the places that he knew she liked to frequent. Even the owner of the noodle shop that he kne she loved to eat at after school hadn't seen her in days. He thought back to when he'd seen her last...she'd mentioned a meeting that she was late for, just before he went into the combat trial. What could she have been seeing Miss Rojo about?

His thoughts snapped back into focus as he rounded the corner. His favourite dust shop, "From Dust Til' Dawn" sat at the end of the road...in near ruins. One of the shop windows had been smashed through by something large, and there appeared to be signs of damage in the surrounding buildings too. Police officers surrounded the area and had cordoned the shop off, with one of them apparently still taking statements from the old shopkeeper who still looked very distressed about the whole thing.

Magnus saw two people stood on the entryway into one of the houses on the street and walked over to them.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"Oh, another one of those blasted dust robberies." one of the people replied. "Some clown with a bowler hat and a cane trying to hold the old man up for his dust."

"Might have got away with more if it wasn't for some kid with a scythe who was in the shop at the time and a Huntress that showed up. Blasted racket woke me up as they ran off in a Bullhead." the second added. "Still, it's good the old man got away unscathed, heard way too many stories about these dust robberies lately."

Magnus nodded. "It has been all over the news recently. I just hope they catch whoever is responsible soon. Thanks for the information though."

"No problem kid." the resident replied, before looking over the bags Magnus was carrying. "Headin' to Beacon, eh?"

Magnus nodded. "How did you know?"

"Hmph, lucky guess. Saw some other kids headin' the same way earlier and it's gettin' near the start of the school year." he replied. "Still, time's tickin' on, you best get goin'. All the best, kid."

"Thanks." Magnus smiled. "Same to you two, as well."

Magnus carried on past the police cordons and further down the street...he would have to make do without his Dust for now it seemed.

"Hopefully there'll be somewhere on campus I can restock.." he thought to himself as he began walking through the park towards the transport pad. He saw several other people his age heading the same way, many of them carrying cases or bags, as well as what looked to be their weapons. Just ahead of him on the path he saw a group of other people he assumed to be other students heading towards the transport just ahead of him. He was about to pick up the pace to catch up with them when he suddenly heard a familiar voice shout from behind...

"MAAAAAAAAAAGNUUUUUSSSSSSSSS! WAAAAAAIT!"

"Cyanne!" Magnus thought to himself. "At least I'll have the chance to say goodbye before I go..."

However, as he turned around to see her, he noticed that she appeared to have bags with her too, and was running after him at a fairly considerable pace. Before he had a chance to ask anything, she had already started speaking.

"Oh my god Magnus, I have been looking EVERYWHERE for you! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I haven't seen you since that day in school when the Principal called...you never told me what that was about." she began. "Anyway I had that meeting with Miss Rojo, and it was so awesome...she told me that although my studies haven't been so good, my combat scores were so awesome that she thought I had a shot at going to Beacon. So I thought, you know, maybe I should do that so they set me up with all the paperwork I needed to do and put me in a combat trial with three or four people that was like SUPER EASY and all and next thing I know they're handing me a scroll and telling me I have three days to get everything ready and put everything into bags and..." she started to trail off as a wave of realisation hits her, and she dived in to hug Magnus. "OHMYGODYOU'REGOINGTOBEACONASWELLOHMYGODOHMYGODTHISISSOAWESOMEWHYDIDN'TYOUTELLME?!"

"I...tried..." Magnus gasped out as Cyanne hugged him tightly, which made her realise maybe she should let him go. "I've been looking for you for days trying to say goodbye before I left...I didn't realise you were going too."

"Well, you aren't getting rid of me so easily, mister." Cyanne laughed. "You're stuck with me for a while yet. Now, race you to the transport!"

With that, Cyanne started sprinting towards the transport pad, disappearing into another cloud of dust as she accelerated.

Magnus smiled to himself. Admittedly, he had not been looking forward to saying goodbye to Cyanne. She had been a good friend for all these years he had been in Vale, and having to face meeting a whole new group of people in Beacon without any familiar faces had seemed like it was going to be a daunting task. Still, at least now he had someone to help him through the first few days.

"MAAAAAAGNUSSSSSS!" Cyanne shouted from the distance. "Come on, you're sooo slow, I'll have graduated by the time you get here!"

"Coming!" he shouted back with a chuckle, as he picked up the pace. Beacon awaited...and with it, all of his hopes and dreams for the future. 


	3. New Acquaintances

Chapter Three : New Acquaintances

Magnus and Cyanne walked up the steps to the transport dock as they continued to make their way through the park. As they reached the top, the shape of the transport dominated the view.

"Wow..." Cyanne gasped, her mouth open in awe. "Look at how many people there are, and look at the size of that thing!"

He smiled at his friend's reaction. "Well, Beacon take a lot of applicants every year..it makes sense that they would need a big ship to carry us all."

"I guess. Well, let's get on there before all the good spaces go!"

With that, Cyanne sprinted forward, leaving him coughing in the dust trail she left behind. Once he recovered, he followed her onboard.

"Magnus, over here...I've found a spot!"

He looked around and spotted Cyanne setting her bag down on the deck, so wandered over to meet her as the transport set off. He placed his own bags down on the floor briefly, but as he was setting them down he noticed another student stood nearby. He had blonde hair, and was wearing jeans, a hooded jumper with what appeared to be armour plates over it...and a rather green pallor to his skin. Anticipating what was likely to be a terrible scenario, he decided to shuffle his bags across slightly; a decision that seemed even wiser when he put his hands over his mouth and ran across to the other side of the transport, the sounds of panicked students following his path.

"Huh, guess some people don't travel well." Cyanne said as the student bolted past.

"Apparently not." he observed.

"So, now we're settled, let's go talk to people!" Cyanne had a big smile on her face as she grabbed Magnus by the arm and started off. "You are *not* getting out of this, Mister! We are not having a repeat of the last few years!"

"O...kay..." Magnus winced as he was pulled along towards the nearest group of people. "You know I can walk on m-"

His train of thought was derailed quickly as Cyanne sudddenly let go of his and stood completely still. After a few moments she kicked Magnus in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Magnus.." she hissed through her teeth, hoping that noone noticed. "Get. Up. Don't you see who that IS?!"

He picked himself up off the floor, dusting himself off as he did so. "It's hard for me to do so when my face gets planted on the...deck.." Magnus trailed off as he saw who it was. The long, red hair, the bronzed battle armour..it could only be one person. "That's...that's.."

"Miss Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes herself!" Cyanne exclaimed "It's..."

"Pyrrha Nikos." he smiled. Pyrrha's reputation in combat was well known among those who followed the tournaments held by the various Academies throughout Remnant. The last team from his previous school that had participated had lost to Sanctum's team in the early rounds, largely due to Pyrrha's individual prowess. Magnus sighed...he had originally been chosen to compete in that tournament several months ago. However, due to the possibility that his father would have turned up to the tournament he had withdrawn, citing a "family emergency" as the reason for the withdrawal...a decision that had helped Magnus decide that he was done with the shadow of his father determining his destiny.

She turned at the mention of her name. "Hello!" she replied, cheerily. "Can I help you?"

Magnus started to turn to Cyanne to allow her to make the introductions but sudddenly noticed she was nowhere to be seen. Muttering a silent curse under his breath at what Cyanne had done, he looked back to Pyrrha.

"Uhm...hello. I just wanted to...introduce myself. My name's Magnus...Magnus Aurin."

Pyrrha smiled. "Oh..a pleasure to meet you, Magnus."

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding. It's just..I've heard a lot about your combat ability." He paused for a moment, trying to compose his thoughts. "It's good to know that there are other students of such ability coming to Beacon."

"Oh.." She paused herself, as if trying to remember. "Have we met before..at one of the Academy tournaments? I'm sorry, there are always so many people.."

He shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. There were...some family issues..that came up that meant I couldn't compete at the last tournament. However, maybe now we're both here I would be hono-..."

Once again, Magnus' train of thought derailed in spectacular fashion as he heard Cyanne raising her voice, followed by the voice of another unfamiliar person.

"Like...OH MY GOD." the voice yelled. "Why don't you watch what you're doing?! You could have made me spill my soda all over this dress and I just bought it yesterday."

"I'm sorry..." Cyanne shouted back

Magnus looked over to the commotion and turned back to Pyrrha. "My apologies Pyrrha, but it looks like my friend Cyanne has got herself into some trouble. If you'll excuse me, maybe we can talk again sometime?"

"Of course." Pyrrha said, smiling.

Magnus nodded in acknowledgement and walked over to the sound of the disturbance. When he got there he found Cyanne arguing with another girl with lilac hair pulled back in two long tails that flowed behind her shoulders with red ribbon. Nearby sat a Faunus girl, her long, flowing brown hair and wolf-like ears barely visible behind the screen she was looking at, and seemingly more frustrated with the noise that the others were making rather than anything else that had happened.

"Look, I said I'm sorry." Cyanne pleaded. "I didn't mean it..."

"Whatever." the girl dismissed her. "Just get away from me...you're like, soo clumsy."

"Hey, she said she was sorry." Magnus retorted. "There's no need to be so rude."

"Who asked you?" she snapped back at him, before turning to Cyanne. "Getting your boyfriend to fight your battles for you? Indy, you'll back me up right?"

"Mm-hmm." the Faunus girl replied, her gaze not moving from the screen, causing the lilac-haired girl to turn to face her.

"Indy, like..are you even LISTENING to me right now?"

"Yep." Indy replied, muttering under her breath. "Unfortunately.."

"And what's THAT supposed to mean? God, you're supposed to back me up, you ARE my sister..."

"Look." Magnus began. "We've clearly all got off on the wrong foot here, so let's just clear this all up once and for all. I'm Magnus, and this is Cyanne...we're friends." He pointed over to Indy. "This is apparently Indy..."

"Hi." Indy raised a hand at the mention of her name, still not moving from the screen.

"OK..." he said, before looking back at the human. "...and you are?"

She sighed. "My name's Lily...Lily Violette. Indy's my sister."

Cyanne looked puzzled, as she looked at both Indy and Lily. "Sister? But she's..."

"Adopted." Indy interrupted, her tone indicating she wanted that fact made clear.

"I was going to say Faunus, but I guess that explains it, huh..."

"Yeah, my family took Indy in a couple of months ago." Lily replied. "My mom was coming home from work and found her trying to keep warm in one of the alleys near the department store. She like,couldn't just leave her there so invited her to come live with us while she sat the entrance exam. When she heard I was going to Beacon too she was like so excited she could barely speak!"

"Yep. Thrilled." Indy added, tapping buttons on the screen as she spoke.

"Certainly looks like it.." Magnus chuckled as he saw Indy's obvious apathy to what was being said.

"Indy!" Lily snapped back "I swear to god you are soooo embarrassing sometimes..."

"Yep."

"...wha? You're agreeing with me?" Lily's eyes widened in slight shock.

"Can I get back to my game if I do?" Indy asked, as she turned away from the screen for the first time in the whole conversation.

Lily sighed. "Whatever, Indy. God..."

"PERFECT!" Indy raised her fists in victory, before going back to her screen. "Nice to meet you both."

He smiled. "You too, Indy. You as well Lily...hopefully we'll see the both of you again."

"Yeah, I guess." Lily smiled back slightly, warming somewhat to the two of them. "See you around."

With that, Magnus turned and walked away, leading Cyanne away as she didn't seem to be finished with the argument. Once they were out of earshot, Cyanne turned to face him.

"Can you believe the nerve of her?!" she exclaimed.

"I don't know, she seemed okay in the end..."

"She called me clumsy!" Cyanne protested. "When have you ever known ME to be clumsy? Seriously, I always know exactly what I'm walking int-"

"Coming through! Emergency!"

It was that boy from before, suddenly appearing again from out of nowhere, his face still looking as green as it had previously. He blurted out his warning before covering his mouth again, nudging Cyanne with his elbow as he brushed past both her and Magnus.

"Now *that* was clumsy." Cyanne said as she tried to stabilise herself, before starting to turn back in the direction she was heading. "You'd never see me do something like th-"

Cyanne walked right into the path of two other students with a resounding crash, sending the three of them sprawling. One of the students, a black-haired dog faunus, reached out to try and grab something to stop himself from falling. Unfortunately, all he found with his flailing was another person's backpack. As he fell he clutched onto it, ripping it from their shoulders as he hit the ground in a mass of bodies and discarded items.

Cyanne jumped back up to her feet as Magnus helped the other two to their feet. "Oh my...I am so sorry!" she exclaimed, her face turning bright red with embarrassment, as she attempted to pick up some of the discarded items that had been strewn over the floor. She looked around frantically for something that might have belonged to one of the students, rummaging through various articles of clothing and stationery before spotting a small red ball that had nestled itself in the pile of things. She quickly grabbed it and presented it to the Faunus boy.

"Is this yours?" she asked, grabbing the ball so tightly it began to squeak. The stare of contempt she got in return gave her all the answer she needed.

"Umm...I guess not." she continued, chuckling nervously as the student scowled at her, before looking to Magnus, who was helping the other student to her feet.

"Are you OK?" he asked. The girl was another Faunus, with pine green hair and wearing a dark hooded coat and boots. Once back to her feet she took a step backwards, before dusting her coat down and placing her hood back over her head. Although her cat ears were now covered, the shape of the ears was still visible under the hood.

"Absolutely fine." she replied. "I try and do something like this at least twice a day..the whole running into random strangers and making myself the centre of attention beats trying to find a nice quiet corner and read any day, you know?"

"Yeah, I can imagine." he chuckled. "Sorry about that, it wasn't intended."

"It's fine, I'm sure Captain Motion Sickness over there had some part in it anyway. Besides, Schwartz here had already put paid to the thought of getting to read any time soon anyway." she said, motioning to the other Faunus who was still staring daggers at Cyanne.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm Magnus...Magnus Aurin." he offered his hand out for a handshake. "That's Schwartz...?"

Schwartz grudgingly broke eye contact with Cyanne at the mention of his voice, turning to face the other Faunus before answering. "Yes, I am Schwartz." He looked again at the girl, with an almost questioning look on his face, which she seemed to return with a slight shake of the head. "Just Schwartz."

The girl nodded slightly before turning back to face Magnus and Cyanne. "I'm Zelena..." she began. "And you are..?"

"Extremely sorry?" Cyanne began, before realising what she meant. "Oh, I'm Cyanne, and this is my friend Magnus. We both graduated from the same combat academy to earn the right to come to Beacon. Is that how you know Schwartz?"

Zelena shook her head. "No...Schwartz and I only met...recently." she began, recalling her meeting with Schwartz the previous evening. She had been looking for answers in relation to her father, who had vanished when she was just eight years old. He had left nothing indicating where he had gone, just her Kukri, instructions on how to modify them and a large stockpile of black Dust. Ever since that moment, she had tried to find him. After moving to Vale and graduating from Signal with honours, she had learned from a friend that there was a club in the shady part of town ran by someone who was said to know everything - Maybe this was her chance to finally get some answers. Sadly, all that she found in that time was a club in disarray, a blonde girl walking away..and Schwartz, seeking answers of his own. " I didn't even know he was coming to Beacon until he came to me on the transport."

Schwartz nodded as he continued to gather up some of the fallen items. "Yes. It was...fortunate.. that I was able to find a familiar face."

The air around them was suddenly filled with the noise of a news report, which attracted Magnus's attention. The report covered a plea by the police for information leading to the apprehension of Roman Torchwick, who was apparently being implicated in a number of robberies of Dust stores, including From Dust 'Til Dawn the day before. He shook his head and looked at the others.

"How can people stoop as low as robbing an old man...he'd never hurt anyone."

They continued to watch the news as the next story talked about how the White Fang, a militaristic Faunus movement, had hijacked a peaceful equal rights protest and turned it violent. As the report went on, Magnus heard a sigh come from Schwartz as he lowered his head, almost remorsefully.

Zelena frowned. "I think I've seen enough news for today...I'll see you all later." With that, she separated away from the group, finding the quiet corner of the transport that she had sought from the very start of the trip. Sitting herself down on the floor opposite another girl with a black bow in her hair, she pulled a book out from her bag and adjusted the somewhat ill-fitting cover sleeve. Noticing that the other girl was also engrossed in her book at this point, she decided against making conversation and began her own reading.

Magnus was about to ask Schwartz if he was okay when suddenly the screen faded, and the news report was replaced with the image of a woman. She had blonde hair and glasses, and wore a white blouse and black trousers, with what appeared to be a tattered cloak with a purple lining. She started speaking immediately, which caused more of the crowd to pay attention to her.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch." the woman began. "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

With that, the image disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared, and the massive campus of Beacon Academy began to come into view, the massive tower dominating all of the surrounding buildings. Magnus, Cyanne and Schwartz walked towards one of the massive viewports on the transport and took in the view for themselves.

"Impressive..." Schwartz remarked as he looked on.

"Indeed." Magnus added. "Certainly fitting for its status. Well, we've had the welcoming committee it seems, I wonder what else we'll have in store once we get there."

"Probably same old stuff we got every year at the old school, Magnus." Cyanne interjected. "Hi there, welcome to Beacon...stand over here for an hour while we sort you into your classes for the year. As exciting as coming here is, I can't say I'd be looking forward to that again."

Magnus was about to add something else to that when he heard a commotion rising up again to the right of him.

"Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!" a voice yelled.

" Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!" the other added in disgust.

Magnus turned to see what was going on, and saw - yet again - the boy from earlier darting to the back of the ship to the restrooms, with two horrified girls in his wake, one with long blonde hair and a brown leather jacket; the other a smaller girl in a red hood. However as well as the blonde human boy, there appeared to be a second passenger who wasn't enjoying the trip. He was sat hunched over in the far corner of the ship clad in a loose fitting hooded brown vest, the likes of which Magnus had not seen in Vale before. He had his head down so that he was looking directly down at the deck plates of the ship.

"Probably to alleviate his symptoms..." Magnus thought. "Although if we have people who can't cope with air travel, how are they possibly going to survive as Huntsmen?"

Almost on cue, as the human boy sped past to the restroom, the other passenger lifted his head to see what was going on, allowing Magnus to see the presence of horns on the boy's hairline as his hood shifted slightly. Immediately, their expression changed, and although the Faunus' skin was of a darker tone than the human, the same green tint showed on his complexion. He immediately sprang to his feet panicking and began to run...towards them.

The smaller of the two girls instantly reacted upon seeing him charging. "Get-Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" she screamed as she ran away from the Faunus boy, the taller blonde shortly after her...leaving nothing between the three of them and the stricken student.

His face began to contort as the defences he had bravely put up slowly began to crumble. As his cheeks appeared to puff up and his mouth began to open, Magnus anticipated what was about to happen. He grabbed Cyanne and leaped backwards, leaving Schwartz alone in the line of fire.

Schwartz turned just in time to see the onslaught heading his way and raised a hand, palm stretched outwards. A translucent wall appeared to flow out from his fingertips and palm..starting off small but expanding outwards at a rapid rate...but not rapid enough. The projection had at least stopped some of the...other projection..but parts of it that had caught the edges of his hard light shield and what Schwartz could only assume was the young bull Faunus' last meal now adorned his boots and hair.

Zelena looked up from her book as the transport fell completely silent, before a huge growl of displeasure from Schwartz echoed around the ship's interior. She wondered what the two humans could have done to irritate him before noticing the other Faunus with him, smiling sheepishly at the havoc he had created. Her eyes narrowed as she caught a glimpse of him.

"You.." she muttered under her breath, thinking back to the last time she'd seen him, and the trail of devastation he'd left in his wake. Putting her book back in her bag, she got back to her feet and started walking over to the transport doors. The transport had started to noticeably slow down as Beacon had begun to loom larger in the viewports, so she assumed that they had already begun to make their approach. By the time she had made her way to the doors, Magnus and Cyanne were already there, along with Schwartz who was attempting to try and clean himself up with very little success. She looked around for the hooded bull Faunus, thinking he would not be that far behind, but she could not see him anywhere.

"Can't you do *anything* without making a scene...?" she thought to herself, as the transport ground to a halt, and the doors opened.

Magnus, Cyanne, Zelena and Schwartz were among the first to disembark from the transport, and began the long walk down the platform to the main campus. When they got to the main courtyard, they stopped for a moment.

"So, where now?" Magnus asked the others.

"For me? A shower." Schwartz growled. "That...*moron*...really made a mess. If we are to meet in a central area, I would like to do so without vomit in my hair if possible."

"Always a positive.." Zelena chipped in.

Magnus chuckled slightly. "Indeed." he said, removing Crozius Aurelia from the holster and wiping the hilt down with a cloth to make sure none of the splash back had hit him. He was just about to put it back when he heard an excited voice from behind him.

"Ohmygosh, sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff!" It was the smaller girl from before, her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store as she saw all of the different weapons. No sooner had she looked at Crozius Aurelia, her head snapped in another direction "And she's got a fire sword!"

"I didn't realise they'd started taking kids now.." Zelena said as she looked back at the girl and her sister, before continuing to head to the hall.

"She clearly must have the ability to be here...with people like Miss Nikos-"

"Hello again!"

Magnus spun around and saw Pyrrha waving to the group as she walked past, as if she had been summoned by the mere mention of her name. Returning the wave, he turned back to face the others. "...as I was saying, there are many extremely skilled fighters here. If she's here, I would like to think it's on merit. However, judging by the events of the trip, I suppose it's not a guarantee."

Cyanne pointed to a large group of students heading towards a grand looking hall. "I may be wrong, but that looks like where we need to go."

"Then by all means, lead the way..." he suggested, motioning for her to lead on. "Let's see what Beacon has in store for us."


End file.
